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About the tickets for the final4, now they also opened two sector 'first ring - vip' at 135 euro, on the side of the benches.
Again, I wonder why not giving the chance to choice these seats to people that bought the tickets earlier.
I guess they'll do the same for the second ring...

Gavin WHO? Do you mean that Canadian guy who wasted his talent by spending most of his career in irrelevant clubs in irrelevant leagues (Asia) and that never had enough courage to face better opponents in stronger leagues like Italy or Russia (except 2012)? The same guy that in the last 2 years had so many injuries that he's not anymore the good player he used to be before? I cannot be afraid of him when in my league I am used to deal with Hernandez, Atanasjevic, Zaystev, Sokolov etc.

Anyway, we shall see next week

I wouldn't insist that Schmitt is the best opp in the world but it is obvious he does belong to the same group as Zaytsevelli, Sokolovelli, Hernandelli etc. During the season in Rus league, Schmitt pushed his team up, pretty much a lone warrior on the pitch, not less than that. Vanya Zaytsev, in contrast, spent time pushing the ball basket across the court, complained abt his injuries, prepared for NT season and demonstrated his price tag.

I only watched the first and part of the second set in Belgorod and I should say I am also disappointed by ZAKSA, I had expected more. I will re-watch the match this week, I can't say much right now, I am curious what happened. First of all, they had Tillie missing. Does anyone know why? ZAKSA started the match just like anyone would expect them to and I was surprised to see the final score later. I was hoping ZAKSA could be the only Polish team, despite the unlucky draw, to advance to the next round or at least step up this week. They still have a match at home but there is a serious chance we see all Polish teams get eliminated in this round

It is worth watching the game in question as I think it was more complex than what one would think straight away. Apart from pretty obvious pressure from the service line there was seemingly quite a bit of tactical work done "on-the-fly" to eliminate the middle attack. This worked only partially but Belgorod was overall successful in pushing the game to the sides of the net, hence the outcome. As I wrote above, had Zaksa had a serious opp, things like these may have no life threat but with Konarski's back court performance things do get difficult. Overall, very poor concentration for Belgorod but a tactical win in the end. On a separate note, it's been long since I've seen Muserskiy enjoying that much freedom. Yes, he's been blocked on a couple of occasions but otherwise he did whatever he wanted. The defense on the other side was like "daddy, is this an elephant?"

I watched it. It was a very entertaining match with some big question marks. Let's get into each party involved.

Perhaps ZAKSA might look differently with Tillie in the starting line-up, but Buszek was surely not the sole reason why ZAKSA underperformed in Belgorod. They had to deal with Belogorie's tough serving which would be a problem for any team. Konarski has probably been enjoying the best season in his career, but he was needed indeed by Toniutti, he didn't quite play as an opposite you expect in the squad of the Polish league leader. Even in his best days you can see the guy is limited and that would be a potential problem. Deroo also received some difficult sets against a relatively well-organised block and he did a very nice job apart from a few situations in the notorious third set. That was a moment that was, to me, inexplicable as ZAKSA failed to take advantage of a 17-13 and then 22-19, I think, lead. And the attackers made mistakes from the first line, too. ZAKSA's whole new mentality under De Giorgi's guidance relied on fulfilling those chances and in Belgorod they just collapsed (partially affected by the team on the other side of the court, of course). And it wasn't like Belogorie played a perfect game, they were vulnerable at times and yet ZAKSA, both in the second and third set, didn't use those moments. A 2-3 defeat would've given them different chances in the return leg. I agree with powsoff, the Polish defence and MOSTLY the handling of tips, mainly from Muserskiy, weren't on a level you would expect. ZAKSA played way better on the two occasions against Dinamo, hence the disappointment that they couldn't handle Belogorie since the beginning of set 2. However, I think this can be considered as a day off more or less, as I haven't seen them play like that often, or at all recently. I refuse to believe they don't know how to handle tips, for instance, or that these mistakes will just appear out of nowhere and will result in a serious decline.

Now, credits due where credits are due. Belogorie, no matter that they still have some living legends on court, is a quality team. They may have played bad or unconvincing at the beginning of the Russian domestic season and during the CL group stage, but now this team seems improved. From one side, Marlon is playing his role. He has never been a risky or ingenious setter, his game lacks many mistakes and even glamour, yet he has always done what he has been required to do. His style fits this year's Belogorie very well, I believe. He is surrounded by tall, powerful, not necessarily fast OHs and middles and often Belogorie's game is about just killing that ball without all the dynamic other teams provide, e.g. Toniutti's ZAKSA. I didn't see a tactical masterpiece on their field, but I saw a relatively convincing side with a good bench. Also, Belogorie has always had great servers in its roster and every once in a while they will enjoy a good day. Tetyukhin delivers when he is needed, Muserskiy, absolutely agree, did whatever he wanted. Also, kudos to the subs, both Iereshchenko and Teryomenko, especially the latter, were decisive. Teryomenko might have easily displayed his best volleyball this season, he hasn't received so much court time. Their serving game helped them a lot and were surprisingly good in defence. Talking about digs, I was impressed by the dig performance of Teryomenko and Zhigalov.

I dare to say I expect a Golden Set in Kedzierzyn-Kozle. I doubt ZAKSA will make all those mistakes again, probably Belogorie wouldn't be able to serve all the time like that. The tie is still pretty open, but we would need the Poles to step up. The good thing is that Belogorie, after the unfortunate acts/decisions/outcomes/performances against Perugia and Halkbank, played like a serious contender. Based on the age of some of their players and the vision of their head coach(es), it is questionable what this year's Belogorie's peak might look like and whether they can ever reach it.

After winning the first two sets, it seems Istanbul is sending sets 3 and 4 to Berlin almost voluntarily. Ok, they still have two chances in the tie break(s) but still this tactic looks a bit questionable....

Awkward match, Berlin played terrible in first two sets but somehow Istanbul stopped playing afterwards and it looked like they were only waiting for their chance in sets 5/6. But not pushing berlin in these sets didn`t pay out obviously. Carrol was great in sets 3456 and also Ruben Schott overcame difficult moments and had great actions in the tie breaks

Istanbul BB's performance wouldn't have been that disappointing had they just lost 0-3. You just HAVE to win one of the tie-breaks when you decide to skip the rest of the match. Which, let's agree, was suicidal already. They should've been way more confident after the 2-0 lead. Berlin, albeit stronger, was the team under pressure throughout the entire evening and you can't say they played perfectly in order to eliminate the Turks. Shameless defence by Istanbul, a lot of tips since set 3 fell down on their side of the court almost carelessly. I didn't watch the first two sets very carefully and there was no way for me to imagine Berlin could grab the next four. Rouzier tried everything he could to help the Germans and he succeeded in the end. Berlin would surely produce more than Istanbul BB against Dinamo Moscow and it is better for the sake of the competition that they advanced instead, yet I felt a bit angry last night that a Playoffs 12 team can lose momentum voluntarily and use foolish tactics just like that.

yet I felt a bit angry last night that a Playoffs 12 team can lose momentum voluntarily and use foolish tactics just like that.

As a fan/sponsor/owner of BBSK, i would have serious problems to control my anger after this match. They had Berlin on the hook and with no need, they allowed them to regain confidence in sets 3+4.

Concerning the match against Moscow, i don't think a receiving line including Kromm/Schott can survive on that level. Steven Marshall might return for this match and could help in this area but whether he will already be ready to deliver in the offense is very questionable.

On the other hand, we have seen some funny performances in Europe by Dinamo last year, so the case may not be completely hopeless. But for sure, Dinamo is massive favourite for final4.

i didnt understand what kind of tactic it was while you were leading 2-0
ive never heard such a ridiculous tactic..
why didnt you try to win the match as leading 2-0 and you needed just one more set..lol

anyway,i dont care much about Istanbul BB team
good that they couldnt win

Sorry but Sokolov owns Skra . Skra doesn't know what to do against him despite having Lisinac as MB. Yes Sokolov is great but Skra's block and defense schema against Sokolov's attack is embarrassing.
I think Lube should start to worry about performance of Juantorena. Jumping lesser, hitting softer ... There is a problem but I don't know what.